VESPERS

vespers, sicilian), in which the french in sicily were all massacred or expelled (1282). charles determined to subjugate the island and sailed with his fleet for messina. the city held out until peter iii. of aragon, whose wife constance was a daughter of manfred, arrived in sicily, and a sicilian-catalan fleet under the calabrese admiral, ruggiero di lauria, completely destroyed that of charles. "if thou art determined, o god, to destroy me," the unhappy angevin exclaimed, "let my fall be gradual!" he was forced to abandon all attempts at reconquest, but proposed to decide the question by single combat between himself and peter, to take place at bordeaux under english protection. the aragonese accepted, but fearing treachery, as the french army was in the neighbourhood, he failed to appear on the appointed day. in the meanwhile ruggiero di lauria appeared before naples and destroyed another angevin fleet commanded by charles's son, who was taken prisoner (may 1284). charles came to naples with a new fleet from provence, and was preparing to invade sicily again, when he contracted a fever and died at foggia on the 7th of january 1285. he was undoubtedly an extremely able soldier and a skilful statesman, and much of his legislation shows a real political sense; but his inordinate ambition, his oppressive methods of government and taxation, and his cruelty created enemies on all sides, and led to the collapse of the edifice of dominion which he had raised. charles ii. (1250-1309), king of naples and sicily, son of charles i., had been captured by ruggiero di lauria in the naval battle at naples in 1284, and when his father died he was still a prisoner in the hands of peter of aragon. in 1288 king edward i. of england had mediated to make peace, and charles was liberated on the understanding that he was to retain naples alone, sicily being left to the aragonese; charles was also to induce his cousin charles of valois to renounce for twenty thousand pounds of silver the kingdom of aragon which had been given to him by pope martin iv. to punish peter for having invaded sicily, but which the valois had never effectively occupied. the angevin king was thereupon set free, leaving three of his sons and sixty provencal nobles as hostages, promising to pay 30,000 marks and to return a prisoner if the conditions were not fulfilled within three years. he went to rieti, where the new pope nicholas iv. immediately absolved him from all the conditions he had sworn to observe, crowned him king of the two sicilies (1289), and excommunicated alphonso, while charles of valois, in alliance with castile, prepared to take possession of aragon. alphonso iii, the aragonese king, being hard pressed, had to promise to withdraw the troops he had sent to help his brother james in sicily, to renounce all rights over the island, and pay a tribute to the holy see. but alphonso died childless in 1291 before the treaty could be carried out, and james took possession of aragon, leaving the government of sicily to the third brother frederick. the new pope boniface viii., elected in 1294 at naples under the auspices of king charles, mediated between the latter and james, and a most dishonourable treaty was signed: james was to marry charles's daughter bianca and was promised the investiture by the pope of sardinia and corsica, while he was to leave the angevin a free hand in sicily and even to assist him if the sicilians resisted. an attempt was made to bribe frederick into consenting to this arrangement, but being backed up by his people he refused, and was afterwards crowned king of sicily. the war was fought with great fury on land and sea, but charles, although aided by the pope, by charles of valois, and by james ii. of aragon, was unable to conquer the island, and his son the prince of taranto was taken prisoner at the battle of la falconara in 1299. peace was at last made in 1302 at caltabellotta, charles ii. giving up all rights to sicily and agreeing to the marriage of his daughter leonora to king frederick; the treaty was ratified by the pope in 1303. charles spent his last years quietly in naples, which city he improved and embellished. he died in august 1309, and was succeeded by his son robert. bibliography.--a. de saint-priest, _histoire de la conquete de naples par charles d'anjou_ (4 vols., paris, 1847-1849), is still of use for the documents from the archives of barcelona, but it needs to be collated with more recent works; s. de sismondi, in vol. ii. of his _histoire des republiques italiennes_ (brussels, 1838), gives a good general sketch of the reigns of charles i. and ii., but is occasionally inaccurate as to details; the best authority on the early life of charles i. is r. sternfeld, _karl von anjou als graf von provence_ (berlin, 1888); charles's connexion with north italy is dealt with in merkel's _la dominazione di carlo d'angio in piemonte e in lombardia_ (turin, 1891), while the r. deputazione di storia patria toscana has recently published a _codice diplomatico delle relazioni di carlo d'angio con la toscana_; the contents of the angevin archives at naples have been published by durrien, _archives angevines de naples_ (toulouse, 1866-1867). m. amari's _la guerra del vespro siciliano_ (8th ed., florence, 1876) is a valuable history, but the author is too bitterly prejudiced against the french to be quite impartial; his work should be compared with l. cadier's _essai sur l'administration du royaume de sicile sous charles i et charles ii d'anjou_ (paris, 1891, _bibl. des ecoles francaises d'athenes et de rome_, fasc. 59), which contains many documents, and tends somewhat to rehabilitate the angevin rule. charles ii. (1332-1387), called the bad, king of navarre and count of evreux, was a son of jeanne ii., queen of navarre, by her marriage with philip, count of evreux (d. 1343). having become king of navarre on jeanne's death in 1349, he suppressed a rising at pampeluna with much cruelty, and by this and similar actions thoroughly earned his surname of "the bad." in 1352 he married jeanne (d. 1393), a daughter of john